Volume 3 Issue 1
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Volume 3 Issue 1 2019 ISSN - 2515-5725 Published by Captive and Field Herpetology The Captive and Field Herpetological journal is an open access peer-reviewed online journal which aims to better understand herpetology by publishing observational notes both in and ex-situ. Natural history notes, breeding observations, husbandry notes are all examples of the articles featured within C&F Herpetological journals. Each issue will feature one literature or book review in an effort to resurface past literature and ignite new research ideas. For upcoming issues we are particularly interested in articles demonstrating: • Conflict between herpetofauna and humans, specifically venomous snakes • Herpetofauna behaviour in human-disturbed habitats • Unusual in-situ behaviour of captive animals For submission guidelines visit: www.captiveandfieldherpetology.com Or contact us via: [email protected] Front cover image: Viperine snake (Natrix maura), Portugal, John Benjamin Owens Editorial Team Chief Editor Website: www.captiveandfieldherpetology.com John Benjamin Owens Email: [email protected] Wales, United Kingdom [email protected] For print versions of the journal please contact us via the email address provided. Reviewers Ben Marshall Bangor University [email protected] James Hicks Nottingham University [email protected] Kimberley Carter Oxford University [email protected] Dr Stuart Graham Amey plc [email protected] Tom Major Bangor University [email protected] Vishal Santra Simultala Conservationists, West Bengal [email protected] Website Design, Graphics & Social Media John Benjamin Owens Wales, United Kingdom [email protected] Steve Allain (Twitter) Cambridge and Peterborough Amphibian and Reptile Group (CPARG) [email protected] Captive & Field Herpetology Volume 3 Issue 1 Volume 3 Issue 1 2019 Index: Field Report: Greece Lightning! Herping Athen and Milos Kimberley Carter……………………………………………………………………………………….1 Captive Notes: Dissection of a Gonocephalus grandis (Gray, 1845): identifying cause of death in a rare captive lizard M.E. Landry Green……………………………………………………………………………………10 First Record of Intraspecific Oophagy in the Common Leaf-tailed Gecko Uroplatus fimbriatus (SCHNEIDER, 1797) Oliver K. E. Cunningham & Steven J. R. Allain……………………………………………………..19 An Instance of Dermatophagy in Captive Floodplain Death Adders Acanthophis hawkei (Wells & Wellington, 1985) Scott Eipper & Tyese Eipper………………………………………………………………………….22 Field Notes: Aggregation behaviour in the common blunt-headed tree snake (Imantodes cenchoa; Linnaeus, 1758) Oliver Thomas…………………………………………………………………………………..……23 Length record and regurgitation contents of a sunbeam snake (Xenopeltis unicolor; Reinwardt, 1827) in Northeastern Thailand Adam J. Aslam……………………………………………………………………………………….26 Notes of Phyllodactylus palmeus (Dixon, 1968) (Squamata; Gekkonidae); A Case of Diurnal Refuge Co- inhabitancy with Centruoides gracilis (Latreille, 1804) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) on Utila Island, Honduras Tom Brown & Cristina Arrivillaga……………………………………………………………………29 An Annotated Checklist of the Herpetofauna of Cikananga Wildlife Centre, Sukabumi, West Java, Inodonesia Nathan Rusli & Arfah Nasution………………………………………………………………………34 Behavioral Ecology of the Indian flapshell turtle Lissemys punctata andersonii (Webb, 1980) in West Bengal, India. Anweshan Patra……………………………………………………………………………………….50 Fowl Play: A failed predation attempt of an adult Turkey Meleagris gallopavo (Linneaus, 1758) (Chordata; Phasianidae) by Boa imperator (Daudin, 1803) (Squamata; Boidae) in Cayo District, Belize Tom W. Brown………………………………………………………………………………………..55 Ingestion of a Discarded Foam Ear Plug by a Wild Lesser Black Whip Snake (Demansia vestigiata; De Vis, 1884) in Central Province, Papua New Guinea Tom Charlton………………………………………………………………………………………….60 Literature Review: Book review – King Cobra: Natural History and Captive Management Richard Southworth………………………………………………………………………………..…62 Captive & Field Herpetology Volume 3 Issue 1 Greece Lightning! Herping Athens and Milos Kimberley Carter Corresponding author: [email protected] Herping into the unknown movie, we drove to our hotel in Porto Rafti, on the East side of Greece . All herping for the Mainland Greece and it’s surrounding islands night was abandoned forced by hunger, pizza has one of the richest diversity of reptiles and and the rain pouring down. Even on the amphibians in Europe with around 90 sheltered balcony there was not a gecko in amphibian and reptile species including many sight! rare and endangered species such as the loggerhead turtle, the Karpathos marsh frog 1st October - The big climb and the Milos viper (Uetz et al. 2018). The morning revealed not only the damage and From 30th September to 7th October a group of water left over from the storm but also some Bangor University herpers went to Milos for amazing views and ideal habitat! The weather the wedding of equally reptile-crazy friends, was still not on our side but we headed off with a detour in Athens and plenty of herping undiscouraged in the drizzly grey, to a rocky thrown in. Our group had little experience hillside on the other side of the bay that looked herping in mainland Greece or the island of promising. The rocks being volcanic were Milos, but with a list of the species found in rough and jagged, great for getting a good grip our areas and online research at our disposal, underfoot but not great on the hands! The we targeted our search primarily for the Milos plants didn’t help either- nearly every plant had viper Macrovipera schweizeri. With no real spines. The habitat was typical Mediterranean plan or field sites in mind we enjoyed the scrubland; small, low-lying shrubs with small, puzzle and reward of testing our “good- leathery leaves with thick cuticles, and often habitat” identification skills. We largely relied needles. A vast array of different lichen on identified habitat from satellite images and covered nearly every surface and the air was spotting promising sites from the car. This filled with the aromatic smell of thyme and report consists of day by day accounts and field oregano. observation of the places we visited and the amphibians and reptiles found at each. Although there was plenty of evidence of tortoises from their droppings, it took a long 30th September - A slow start time before we had a sighting of the first herp of the trip - although brief! A small break in the After taking an afternoon flight from clouds brought out a Dahl’s whip snake Manchester, we didn’t arrive into Athens until (Platyceps najadum) that quickly disappeared the evening, where we were welcomed by rain, into the vegetation and rocks. After further lots of rain! Greece had been hit by gale-force climbing to reach the top of the hill we were winds of up to 62mph slamming into the met with stunning views but still no reptiles, country from the west from a medicane – a although plenty of interesting spiders and small combination of the words Mediterranean and mantids, and so decided to head down to visit hurricane –from the Ionian Sea southwest of the hillside across the valley that was now mainland Greek. After finding the shuttle bus receiving a good dose of sunlight. Only after to deliver us to the hire car office, down built- risking life and limb (and pride) scaling down up streets and then a lane straight from a horror the jagged hillside and spiky bushes, did the Page !1 Captive & Field Herpetology Volume 3 Issue 1 Figures 1a-d. (Top-bottom left-right) Chalcides ocellatus, Malpolon insignitus, Vipera ammodytes, Testudo marginata. sun break properly on our side, bringing an After lunch we headed west to a hillside over- almost immediate change! In a piece of looking Athens where previous herp groups wasteland at the back of some houses, littered had reported horned vipers (Vipera ammodytes) with junk (refugia, yay!), in rapid succession (fig. 1c) and marginated tortoises (Testudo we saw 4 reptiles in the space of around 10 marginata) (fig. 1d). The habitat rarely altered minutes. The first being another Dahl’s whip from the aromatic, low-lying scrubs and lichen snake, a small juvenile that fled into a rock covered rocks, although there were a few more pile, two Ocellated skinks (Chalcides trees and more evidence of people, being so ocellatus) (fig.1a), a juvenile and an adult both close to civilisation and farmland. We quickly found under flipped rocks and a beat-up found one of the target species, a T. marginata looking Eastern Montpellier Snake (Malpolon found out in the open amongst the vegetation, insignitus) (fig. 1b) found at the edge of a pile distinctive with their flared supracauda scutes. of branches. Followed by the other target V. ammodytes, a Page !2 Captive & Field Herpetology Volume 3 Issue 1 Figure 2a-d. (Top-bottom left-right) Platyceps najadum, Ablepharus kitaibelii, Telescopus fallax, Macrovipera schweizeri. juvenile only measuring "10cm long, found on exposing the bone beneath their scutes, a result a rock with an over-hanging rock giving cover of old-age and fighting in the males. The from above. Further searching around the site female in particular, had lost most of the dark found more T. marginata, either basking in the pattern on her scutes. Heading back to the open or moving along the gravel access road. hotel, on the curb of a shopping centre car Of the dozen tortoises we saw, all were adults park, we had our first gecko of the trip (no and only one was